Bb Content

The Blackboard Syllabus Builder can be used to add a piece of course content to any content area of your Blackboard course containing details of the course syllabus. It provides a useful template to outline learning objectives, materials required, and details of lessons.

Add Syllabus

1. Identify and enter the content area into which you wish to add your Syllabus.

2. Ensure that Edit Mode is ON.

3. Hover your mouse pointer over Build Content and choose Syllabus

Syllabus Name and Details

4. Enter the Name of your Syllabus.

5. If you already have a Syllabus, for example in a Word document, you may Browse for it and add it here. If not you may Create a New Syllabus.

Syllabus Information

6. If you are creating a new Syllabus, enter the relevant information in the text boxes provided.

Syllabus Design

7. Choose the Syllabus design according to your preferences. You may always go back and change it by Modifying the Syllabus later.

Lessons?

8. The Syllabus builder allows you to add lesson outlines if you wish, these include descriptions, dates and times. If you wish to add lesson details enter the number of lessons within the Syllabus.

Options

9. Complete the options according to your preferences, then scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Submit.

Syllabus

10. The Syllabus will appear. If you are not happy with the presentation or content you can click on Edit Syllabus at the top right to go back and change it.

11. If you specified lessons in step 8 these are presented. You can add or delete lessons using the buttons.

Lesson Details

13. When you Modify a lesson you are first asked to enter the title, pick a colour, and if you wish specify the date and time of the lesson. This is not necessary, you can select Lesson has no date / time if you wish.

Lesson Description

14. Next you are asked to enter a description of the lesson. Use the text box provided.

15. When you are finished click on Submit. Repeat the steps for each lesson according to your preferences.

Completed Syllabus

When you wish to edit your Blackboard course you will need to turn on Edit Mode.

Students do not have access to this feature, only instructors and the other roles above student will be able to use Edit Mode.

Where it is

1. Edit mode is located in the top right corner of your course.

Turning it off and on

2. Edit mode can be turned on and off by clicking on the Edit mode button. The display tells you whether Edit Mode is ON or OFF.

Edit Mode: effect on Content Areas

3. Let’s look at the two main areas of your course that Edit Mode affects; content areas and the course menu.

4. Above we are looking at a content area.

When Edit Mode is OFF
We see the material as the student would see it

When Edit Mode is ONa: We may change the presentation style of the content areab: We are able to add new materials and tools.c: We are able to re-order material by dragging and dropping.d: We see all the material on the course, including material which has been hidden.e: We are able to modify existing materials.

Edit Mode: effect on the Course Menu

5. Above we are looking at the course menu.

When Edit Mode is OFF
We see the course menu as the student would see it.
Content areas that are currently empty are not shown to students.

When Edit Mode is ONa: We may reorder menu items by dragging and dropping them.b: Content areas that are currently empty are accessible. The
grey icon beside them shows us that these are currently empty content areas.c: We may edit the menu itemsd: We may reorder the menu items without dragging and dropping, this is for those who find dragging and dropping difficulte: We may add new menu items

The Review Status tool allows you to track whether students have reviewed specific content items. Once the you enable the tool for an item, each student may tracks their progress. A Mark Reviewed button appears on the item when the student opens the Content Area. After reviewing the item, the student may select this button to mark it Reviewed. You can check the status of student reviews on the User Progress page.

Manage item

1. Begin by identifying the content item for which you wish to enable “Review Status”.

2. Click on the modify button and choose review status.

Enable

3. Select Enable and click on Submit.

Note
If you expect your students to mark material as reviewed make sure they are aware of this. Otherwise only a few may do so.

Check user progress

4. To see which students have marked the item as reviewed. Click on User Progress from the Modify button menu.

User Progress

5. A summary is displayed showing to whom the content is visible, and which users have marked the item as reviewed and when they reviewed it.

From the Student View

6. When a student sees and item with Review Status enabled a button is displayed showing “Mark Reviewed“.

From the Student View 2

7. When a student clicks on Mark Reviewed, the button changes to Reviewed.

Blackboard supports SCORM version 1.2, SCORM2004 (up to 4th Edition), and Rustici Tin Can, as well as IMS and NLN content. Note that regarding Tin Can Blackboard it cannot run the Learning Record Store component.

Edit Mode

1. Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF.

Access a Content Area

2. Enter the content area into which you wish to place your SCORM learning object.

Choose Add SCORM Content

Adding Scorm Content

5. Click on Browse My Computer and locate the object you wish to upload.

Title

6. The Title will be automatically populated from information taken from the object you uploaded at the previous step. You can change this if you wish. You can also enter a Description if you wish.

Make Available

7. Set Make SCORM Available to Yes. This is not the default option. If you wish for course users to interact with this object it is essential to set this option to Yes.

8. Set the Number of Attempts that you will allow.

9. Set a time range for the object to be available if necessary and appropriate.

10. Choose to track the number of views if you wish. This option will only track that the link to the object has been viewed, not the object itself. It is better to use Scorm scores to track that the object has been used.

Assessment Options

11. Set how the object should be marked. The creator of the object should advise whether Score, Completion, or Satisfaction should be assessed as this will be dependent on how the object has been set up.

SCORM Score – Displays the total scoreSCORM Completion – A tick symbol indicates if a user has completed the item.SCORM Satisfaction – If you have selected a minimum score the student must achieve when creating the SCORM content select the check box to enforce a pass or fail element. For a pass mark a green tick will be displayed in the Grade Centre column and a score of 100.00 will be added to the Grade Attempt, a red cross and a mark of 0.00 will be displayed for failure.

12. Enter a due date if you wish.

13. If multiple Sharable Content Objects (SCOS) are available within the object you may set Grade SCOS to Yes and choose which should be added to the Blackboard Grade Centre. If in doubt leave this option set to No.

14. Leave the Grade Timing option set at the default, ie. When SCO is completed, with Grade of Last attempt, unless you have been advised otherwise by the creator of the object.

Submit

15. Click on Submit to finish.

Student Access

16. To access your object students should click on its name.

Object has launched

It is possible to add a SlideShare ‘mashup’ to your Blackboard course. Note that this feature may stop working if SlideShare change the way their content works. SlideShare is a third party web site and iSolutions cannot be held responsible for the content held on it. Users should read the SlideShare terms and conditions.

Edit Mode

1. Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF.

Choose a Content Area

2. Choose the Content Area to which you wish to add your SlideShare presentation. All the content areas work in the same way, if you have renamed or added content areas to your Blackboard course the screenshot above may vary from what you see.

Add SlideShare Mashup

3. Hover your mouse over Build Content and then click on SlideShare Presentation.

Enter Search Criteria

4. Enter your search term and click on Go.

Search Results

5. You should see a list of search results. Underneath the thumbnail of each SlideShare presentation there is a Preview button and a Select button. If you wish to see a larger preview of a presentation, click on Preview. Otherwise click on Select.

Add Description

6. You may choose to change the display name for the presentation as it will appear in your course. You can also choose the colour of the name, and add a description of the presentation if you wish.

Further Options

7. Choose your preferred view for the SlideShare presentation when it appears in your course. You can choose to display a Thumbnail of the presentation (which can be clicked on to view the presentation), a Text Link with Player (which provides a text link which can be clicked on to play the presentation), or you can Embed the presentation within the page. You can always choose to preview each of these settings by clicking on Preview at the top or bottom of the page.

8. Choose whether you want to show the SlideShare URL of the presentation you are sharing, and also whether you wish to show the SlideShare Information for the presentation (as entered by the SlideShare presentation owner)

9. If you want to you can attach a file to this content as well (for instance if you have a word document which accompanies the SlideShare presentation). You can add a file from your computer by clicking on Browse My Computer. This is optional.

10. Set the following options according to your preferences:

Permit Users to View this ContentDo you want students to be able to access this content? Selecting No would prevent your students from viewing it, but you would still be able to view it while Edit Mode is ON. The date restrictions option below is a more powerful way of doing a similar action. The default for this option is Yes.

Track number of viewsSelect Yes to indicate that the system is to track the number of times a user accesses this item. Select No to indicate that the number of times this page is accessed will not be tracked. Only use this option when you particularly require tracking information. A general report on Course Statistics provides tracking information for the whole course and is available from the Control Panel.

Select Date and Time RestrictionsIf you wish you may restrict when this content will appear. Tick the boxes and determine times and dates as appropriate. Ticking Display After will mean that the content will appear from the time and date that you select. Ticking Display Until will mean that the content will no longer appear (disappear) after the date and time selected has passed. This only affects the way the material appears to students. As a course instructor you can change this setting at any time and the content will always be available to you.

Submit

11. Click on Submit. You can preview how your SlideShare mashup will look by clicking on Preview.

The Performance Dashboard provides an “at a glance” view of student usage of your course. The dashboard shows the students enrolled on your course, when they last logged into Blackboard, how documents they have marked as reviewed (for documents with “review status” enabled), what is visible to them through adaptive release, and provides a link into the gradebook to view student grades.

Access the Performance Dashboard

1. From your course’s Control Panel, expand the Evaluation section and click on Performance Dashboard.

The Performance Dashboard

2. The Performance Dashboard will appear. The small arrows above each column can be used to change the order of the column. The following information is displayed:

Student Details
The lastname, firstname, iSolutions username, and course role are shown.

Last Course Access
This displays the last time the student accessed the course.

Days Since Last Course Access
This displays the number of days since the student last accessed the course.

Review Status
This shows the number of documents viewed by the student for which review status has been enabled.

Adaptive Release
This opens the Course Map, showing every possible item in the course. Icons beside each item in the Course Map indicate the visibility of an item to that course user, and the review status of any items with a review requirement, if applicable.

Discussion Board
The number of posts made by the student to any discussion forums.

Early Warning System
This shows to for how many rules the student matches the rule criteria.

Your Blackboard course can be opened up so that people who do not have University accounts (“guests”) may access it. You may restrict to which areas of the course menu Guests have access. Guests cannot interact with your Blackboard course, for example in terms of completing a survey, test or viewing the discussion board. This is a design feature to prevent abuse of student confidentiality. Integrations with other services such as Turnitin and Panopto cannot be used by guests.

Enable Guest Access

2. From the Control Panel expand the Customisation area and click on Guest and Observer Access.

Allow Guests

3. Set Allow Guests to Yes and click on Submit.

Choose which menu items guests may access

4. Now we must determine which menu items guests may access.

5. Click on the modify button beside each item to which you wish to give guest access and choose Permit Guests.

Optional step

6. Here follows an optional step. This relates to how guests will access your course. If you wish to make your course more prominent to guests you can make it appear within the “My Courses” box that people who click on “Click Here for Guest Access” see when the log into Blackboard.

If you do not want your course to be so easily accessed then you do not need to follow the next steps and can refer to the related guide “how do guests access my course?”. You should follow this and try to access your course as a Guest to check that you have everything set up how you want it.

Add the “Guest” user

7. To make you course appear in the Guest’s list of courses you must add the Guest user to your course.

8. From your course Control Panel, expand Users and Groups and click on Users.

Find Users

9. Click on Find Users to Enrol.

Guest

10. In the username box type guest.

11. Select Guest from the dropdown role menu.

12. Click on Submit.

13. Now your course will appear in the Guest user’s “My courses” list.

“Learning Modules” allow you to put a number of pieces of content into a linear order. You can also add interactive features such as quizzes. This feature can be useful if you wish to lead a student through a number of pieces of content in sequence, rather than the standard model of providing content through which students make their own way.

Edit Mode

1. Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF.

Content Area

2. Choose the Content Area into which you wish to add your content. All the content areas work in the same way, if you have renamed or added content areas to your Blackboard course the screenshot above may vary from what you see.

Build Content

Learning Module

4. Enter a Name for the Learning Module.

5. If you wish, set a colour for the name to appear in.

6. Enter a description of the Learning Module.

Options

7. “Enforce Sequential Viewing of the Learning Module” is asking you whether you want students to go through the material that you later add in sequence. If you set this to Yes then students will have to view the material one piece at a time and not be able to skip ahead. If you set this to No and enable the Table of Contents then students can choose to view the material in any order.

8. If you would like the Learning Module to open in a new browser window or tab when students open it then set Open in New Window to Yes. Otherwise leave it set at No.

Availability restrictions

9. Set Permit Users to View this Content to Yes so that students will be able to access it.

10. If you wish you may set date and time restrictions.

Hierarchy

11. If you would like a table of contents to be shown alongside your Learning Module set this option to Yes. Note that if you enforced sequential viewing and choose to have the table of contents displayed then students will see the table but not be able to go forward more than one item of content at a time.

12. Hierarchy Display allows you to select whether the sequence of items should be numbered and if so how.

13. Click on Submit.

Entering the Learning Module

14. Next we need to add the material into the Learning Module.

15. To access the Learning Module click on its name.

Adding content to the Learning Module

16. You add content to a Learning Module in the same way that you would add content to a folder. You will see the same selection of buttons allowing you to add content. You may use these buttons in the usual way.

Organising and viewing

17. As you add material you can re-order it in the usual way by dragging and dropping with the up/down arrow.

18. To see how your Learning Module behaves from the student point of view, turn edit mode OFF.

Success!

While not recommended it is possible to add a link to a folder or file on your J drive to your Blackboard course.

Keep in mind that

– Links to J drive will only work in Microsoft Internet Explorer

– The link will only work on a Windows Staff PC, Bench PC or Public Workstation.

– The link will only work if the person who logged into the PC has access to the J drive folder/file in question.

– There may be other support issues that we are unaware of and as such this method should not be relied upon.

Identify J Drive Folder or File

1. First identify the J drive folder or file to which you wish to make a link. In this example a folder called “temp2” is being used.

Copy Path to Clipboard

2. Click into the Path box so that the text J: etc. is displayed, select all the text, and copy it to the clipboard. You can do this by right clicking on the highlighted text and choosing copy. Note that all of the text must be copied or the link will not work. Ensure that you have copied the entire path.

Blackboard

3. Now go to the place in Blackboard to which you would like to add the link. Start by adding an Item.

Details

4. Enter a Name and colour as usual. In the text box type in the text that will be used to form the link, e.g. “click here to access the J drive”.

Select Text

5. Select the text that forms the link you will make.

Insert Hyperlink

6. Click on the Insert Hyperlink icon. It looks like a globe and is highlighted in red in this screenshot.

File link

7. A new window will pop up.

8. In the type dropdown box choose File.

9. In the URL box add an extra / so that the text starts with file:///

10. Paste in the path you copied to the clipboard earlier so that it is appended to the file:/// text.

11. Change all the backward slashes from the text that you pasted to forward slashes.

12. Review the URL text again, if this is incorrect then the link will not work. Here is an example of a correctly formed link:

file:///J:/iSolutions/Service Delivery/eLearning/Blackboard/temp2

13. Click on Submit.

Submit again

14. The text you selected before will now be underlined showing that it is a link, click on Submit to finish.